Twin City Chinese Christian Church
St. Paul, Minnesota
A Brief History and Major Milestones
In 1949, Mrs. Torjesen, a returned missionary from China, invited a few Chinese students at the University of Minnesota to start a bible study group. Three years later, Mr. and Mrs. Victor Christianson, another missionary couple returned from China, came to lead the growing fellowship, bringing gospel and spiritual growth to many Chinese students in Minnesota. In 1958, Chinese Christian Fellowship (CCF) was officially established and registered with the State. Joseph Wong, a seminary student and a member of CCF, became its part-time minister in 1966. He went on to become the first full-time pastor of CCF in 1970. During the next 20 years, with God's blessing and under Pastor Wong's leadership, CCF grew into to become the largest Chinese church in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Like many Christian groups of similar size, CCF did not originally have a permanent meeting place of its own at the beginning. In 1958, it CCF bought a small house near the campus for bible study groups and prayer meetings. On Sundays, it used the facilities of other local churches to hold worship services. 1975 was a special year in the history of our church. In that year, God made it possible for CCF to purchase an elementary school building in Lauderdale to make it a home of its own. It is strategically located between the two campuses of U of M, which allows the church to continue and to expand the student ministries. It had a large gym, which was successfully transformed into the main sanctuary. It also had many classrooms to meet the need of the growing Sunday School program. Despite the high rate of turnover of the congregation, the church grew steadily.
The following are some of the major milestones since 1975:
| 1975 |
August 10, First Sunday service in the present Lauderdale building |
| 1977 |
Faith Wong became part time Junior Director; weekly adult Sunday School began; Joy and Life Fellowships were established |
| 1978 |
English translation is added by earphone for trilingual Sunday services |
| 1979 |
Faith Wong became CCF's Minister of Christian Education |
| 1981 |
Wesley Portinga was sent to Taiwan as a missionary; Adult English and Restaurant Fellowships were established |
| 1982 |
Church name was changed to Twin City Chinese Christian Church; Helen Young was sent to Thailand as a missionary |
| 1985 |
Phil Towner was sent to Taiwan as a missionary |
| 1988 |
Gaylord Tsuei became Youth Director of TCCCC; Samuel Ng and Paul Yeh were ordained as elders |
| 1989 |
Monthly English Sunday service began |
| 1990 |
After 20 years of service, Pastor Wong was called to service as the General Secretary of Chinese Christian Mission and became the Honorary Pastor of the church |
| 1991 |
Monthly Cantonese Sunday service began |
| 1992 |
Rev. Timothy Chang became senior pastor; Abraham Hsueh was sent to Midwest campuses, and Evan Hsu to Taiwan as missionaries |
| 1993 |
Gaylord Tsuei became English Minister |
| 1995 |
Joe Fong became the Cantonese Minister; weekly English Sunday worship services began |
| 1996 |
Weekly Cantonese Sunday worship services (except for the first week of month) began |
| 1997 |
Gaylord Tsuei was ordained as English pastor; Pastor Timothy Chang was called to service in California; Stephen Mma was called to service as the Interim Mandarin Minister |
| 1998 |
Rev. Gaylord Tsuei was called to service to Austin Chinese Church in Austin, Texas |
| 1999 |
Stephen Mma became the Mandarin Minister; Joe Fong left for further studies in California; Dr. Edward Glenny became the interim English Minister; Grace Fellowship was established |
| 2001 |
Stephen Mma was ordained as Mandarin Pastor; Michael Gin became the English Minister |
| 2002 |
Gregory Har became the Cantonese Minister |
| 2003 |
Nathan Opsata became the Youth Minister; Michael Gin was ordained as the English Pastor |
| 2004 |
TCCCC planted Chinese Christian Church of Woodbury to more effectively reach people in Woodbury and the eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities; Mandarin Fellowship was changed to Living Water Fellowship |
| 2005 |
Pastor Joe Fong who was T4C Cantonese minister from 1995 to 1999 passed away in Texas Jan 24 at age 55; Keh-Yeong Tan served as practicing minister at CCCW; Gregory Har was ordained as Cantonese Pastor
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| 2007 |
West Family Fellowship started monthly Sunday worship service at Vision of Glory Lutheran Church, 13200 Hwy 55, Plymouth, MN; Started searching for new elders; Started three Sunday services, English, Mandarin and Cantonese at the main sanctuary; Minister Keh-Yeong Tan left CCCW
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| 2008 |
Installation ceremony for Minister Keh-Yeong Tan as Pastor of T4CW with Bi-weekly Sunday worship service at Parker's Lake Baptist Church, 14270 Cty Rd 6, Plymouth, MN 55447; Nathan Opsata was ordained as Youth Pastor; Commissioning Service for T4CW; Chong Yuen Fellowship was established
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| 2009 |
Celebration Service for CCCW becoming an independent Church and Rev. Mike Chu as pastor; CCCW Sunday worship at New Life Christian Church in Woodbury
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Today, TCCCC is still the largest Chinese Christian church in Twin Cities, with Sunday worship services conducted in 3 languages and dialects (Mandarin, Cantonese and English) and a combined attendance of over 500. God has been most gracious: In the past half century, He has nurtured and guided the growth of the small bible study group into a church of diverse ministries, but we know He has greater plans. We pray that God will sent send His workers and to join in the harvest. May He continue to use this body of Christ to be a witness for the true living God we serve!